Apparatus and method for composing high density materials onto target substrates by a rapid sequence
First Claim
1. A non-contact system for composing microarrays comprising:
- a first arm assembly for manipulating a liquid source plate, said liquid source plate having a plurality of source wells each adapted to hold a material for forming said microarrays;
a liquid transfer plate having a fill side and a dispense side and a plurality of channels extending therethrough;
a second arm assembly for manipulating the liquid transfer plate, said second arm assembly configured to align a first channel of said plurality of channels with a first source well of said plurality of source wells such that when a first material contained in said first source well is ejected from said first source well said first material enters said first channel;
a non-contact liquid dispensing device for ejecting said first material from said first source well into said first channel; and
a pressure source fluidly connectable with said fill side of said liquid transfer plate wherein said pressure source is configured to controllably increase pressure to one or more of said channels thereby ejecting at least a portion of said materials from said liquid transfer plate onto a target substrate.
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Abstract
A system for composing high-density arrays of biological and chemical materials onto target substrates by a rapid sequence. A system includes a thin liquid transfer plate having a fill side, a dispense side and a plurality of channels extending therethrough. The channels of the liquid transfer plate may be loaded with chemical and or biological materials. Once loaded, the materials are ejected from the liquid transfer plate onto a plurality of target substrates. The system further includes various arm assemblies to manipulate and position the liquid transfer plate and the target plates. Additional liquid transfer plates may be loaded and dispensed onto the plurality of target substrates. Methods for composing a high-density array are also provided.
76 Citations
45 Claims
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1. A non-contact system for composing microarrays comprising:
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a first arm assembly for manipulating a liquid source plate, said liquid source plate having a plurality of source wells each adapted to hold a material for forming said microarrays;
a liquid transfer plate having a fill side and a dispense side and a plurality of channels extending therethrough;
a second arm assembly for manipulating the liquid transfer plate, said second arm assembly configured to align a first channel of said plurality of channels with a first source well of said plurality of source wells such that when a first material contained in said first source well is ejected from said first source well said first material enters said first channel;
a non-contact liquid dispensing device for ejecting said first material from said first source well into said first channel; and
a pressure source fluidly connectable with said fill side of said liquid transfer plate wherein said pressure source is configured to controllably increase pressure to one or more of said channels thereby ejecting at least a portion of said materials from said liquid transfer plate onto a target substrate. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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- 20. A liquid transfer plate for transferring biological and chemical materials onto a target substrate comprising a thin planar body having a fill side, a dispense side and a plurality of channels extending from said fill side to said dispense side.
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32. A non-contact method for composing a microarray onto at least one target substrate comprising:
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loading a first liquid transfer plate with primary materials to be printed; and
dispensing at least a portion of said primary materials onto said at least one target substrate. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45)
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42. A method for composing a microarray onto a plurality of target chips comprising:
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selecting a number of spots to be printed onto a target chip;
determining a channel configuration for a liquid transfer plate used to dispense materials onto said plurality of target chips;
determining a number of liquid transfer plates necessary to complete printing said number of spots from said selecting step; and
determining a number of target chips such that the difference between the time to load materials into each and every channel of a liquid transfer plate and the time to print materials from a liquid transfer plate onto each and every target chip of said number of target chips (dT) is minimized.
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Specification